July 2019

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Volume 27 Issue 7

Editorial Staff

Clinical Editor
Morton Kern, MD
Executive Editor
Laurie Gustafson
Managing Editor
Rebecca Kapur
Production Manager
Elizabeth Vasil

Editorial Correspondence

Rebecca Kapur, Managing Editor, Cath Lab Digest
HMP Communications, 70 E. Swedesford Rd
Suite 100, Malvern PA 19355
Telephone: (440) 717-0418

Fax: (866) 896-8762
Email: rkapur@hmpglobal.com
The Use and Abuse of Social Media in the Cath Lab
Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms have changed the way we see our world. Social media will be the way we communicate, educate, notify, and share our views across wide groups of users, particularly in the cardiovascular space.
Cath Lab and Beyond
Nurses and technologists new to the cath lab came from near and far to the March 2019 session of Cath Lab and Beyond, a 4-day training program offered in Sacramento, California. This program, approved for 32 CEUs, has been offered for over 20 years a…
Treatment of Heart Failure by Coil Embolization of Bilateral Coronary to Pulmonary Artery Fistulas
A 69-year-old morbidly obese Caucasian woman was seen in consultation owing to exertional dyspnea. She was found to have atrial fibrillation and a continuous murmur at the left upper sternal border. Echocardiography suggested the possibility of paten…
Interventional Cardiology: The Numbers Game
A career in the field of interventional cardiology is a road riddled with land mines. A life of caring for the sickest of the sick through providing urgent and immediate lifesaving intervention. Skills that come at a high price and could, at any mome…
New Accredited Online Professional Certificate Program in Electrophysiology
Pennsylvania College’s Professional Certificate Program in Cardiac Electrophysiology is the first online program to be granted initial accreditation. On March 15, 2019, the Pennsylvania College of Health Sciences was awarded initial accreditation by…
Pikeville Medical Center Cardiac Cath Lab
Pikeville Medical Center is located in Pikeville, Kentucky. Nestled in the beautiful mountains of Appalachia, Pikeville Medical Center services a large rural area, including bordering states of West Virginia and Virginia. We began with a mobile cathe…
Getting a Balloon Through in Complex PCI: Crossing Made Easier
I do 250-300 percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures per year, and 60-70% of those procedures are chronic total occlusions (CTOs) or complex high-risk indicated procedures (CHIP). It is important to emphasize that these procedures are bei…
Noncompliant, High-Pressure Balloon and Calcified, Undilatable Coronary Lesions
Optimal stent deployment can become a challenge for the interventional cardiologist, especially when it involves calcified, undilatable lesions. Various technologies have been developed to tackle this scenario and the super high-pressure balloon seem…
The Time to Act is Now: The Medicare Bundle Payment Program
In this month’s article, we are placing a significant focus on the need for cardiovascular programs to become aware of and understand available opportunities regarding the Medicare bundle payment program, as well as any exposure their program may fac…
Treating a Rare Delayed Iatrogenic Mid Femoral Pseudoaneurysm After Chronic Total Occlusion Revascularization
Arterial pseudoaneurysms or “contained ruptures,” are rare complications of endovascular procedures.1 Arterial pseudoaneurysms are characterized by a defect in the layers of the vessel wall that can result in severe pain, nerve compression, or even h…